OSHA investigates work-related death at Tesla Gigafactory in Austin, Texas
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OSHA investigates work-related death at Tesla Gigafactory in Austin, Texas

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OSHA investigates work-related death at Tesla Gigafactory in Austin, Texas
Elon Musk tours the recently opened Tesla Gigafactory Texas factory in Austin, Texas, Monday, Sept. 25, 2020. (AP Photo/Gyula Bartos/Press Office of the President of Hungary/MTI)

Federal investigators are investigating a death at the Tesla Gigafactory in Austin, Texas, earlier this month. The Travis County Sheriff’s Office and local paramedics were called to the plant on the morning of Aug. 1 when a worker went into cardiac arrest.

More details are not yet available, including the identity of the worker, and OSHA has indicated its investigation will last up to six months. However, there have been three other inspections at the Gigafactory in the past three years, with the most recent open case dating back to July 5, 2024.

The deaths came after Tesla laid off 14,000 workers worldwide, part of a global attack on jobs across the economy but concentrated in the auto industry. The labor-saving potential of electric vehicles, combined with lower-than-expected initial sales, are prompting car companies to cut entire sections of their workforces.

After being fired, Tesla CEO Elon Musk was awarded $45 billion in compensation from Tesla’s board, in an act of blatant social thuggery. Musk’s net worth is $218 billion as of this writing, making him the richest person in human history. Musk is also a well-known ignoramus and right-winger who has used his personal control of social media platform X (formerly Twitter) to provide a forum for neo-Nazis. The promotion of these political forces is intended to protect his absurd wealth from the working class, much like Henry Ford did when he promoted anti-Semitism in the early 20th century.